Josh Mostel

Josh Mostel
Mostel in 2016
Born	(1946-12-21) December 21, 1946 (age 78) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1971–present
Spouses	Peggy Rajski ​ ​ (m. 1983; div. 1998)​ Kim Murdock ​ ​ (m. 2016)​
Father	Zero Mostel

Joshua Mostel (born December 21, 1946) is an American actor with numerous film and Broadway credits.^[1] The son of Zero Mostel, he is best known for his supporting roles in films such as Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), Harry and Tonto (1974), Sophie's Choice (1982), City Slickers (1991), Billy Madison (1995), and Big Daddy (1999).

Life and career

Mostel was born in New York City, the son of Kathryn Celia, née Harkin, an actress, dancer, and writer, and Zero Mostel, a comic actor.^[2]

Tobias Mostel, his brother, is a painter, ceramic artist and professor of art, teaching at Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]}

Mostel started his career as a boy soprano at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He graduated from Brandeis University.^[2] His Broadway debut was in 1971 with Unlikely Heroes. In 1973, Mostel had one of his more notable film performances as Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar. In 1979, Mostel briefly starred in Delta House, the television version of the film Animal House; he played Blotto Blutarsky, the brother of the character Bluto (played by John Belushi in the original film).^{[citation needed]}

On Broadway, he appeared in the 1989 revival of The Threepenny Opera as Money Matthew and as the frazzled head writer in the original 1992 production of My Favorite Year. He also played the part of "the best trader on the street", Ollie, one of Gordon Gekko's traders in Wall Street.^{[citation needed]}

Mostel lives in New York, with a summer home in Monhegan, Maine.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

Year	Title	Role
1971	Going Home	Mr. Bonelli
1972	The King of Marvin Gardens	Frank
1973	Jesus Christ Superstar	Herod Antipas
1974	Harry and Tonto	Norman Coombes
1976	The Money	Wheel-of-fortune operator
	Deadly Hero	Victor
1981	Dead Ringer	Russell
1982	Fighting Back	Duster
	Sophie's Choice	Morris Fink
1983	Star 80	Private Detective
1984	The Brother from Another Planet	Casio Vendor
	Windy City	Sol
1985	Almost You	David
	Compromising Positions	Dicky Dunck
	Stoogemania	Howard F. Howard
1986	The Money Pit	Jack Schnittman
1987	Radio Days	Abe
	Matewan	Mayor Cabell Testerman
	Wall Street	Ollie
1989	Animal Behavior	Mel Gorsky
1991	City Slickers	Barry Shalowitz
	Naked Tango	Bertoni the Jeweler
	Little Man Tate	Physics Professor
	City of Hope	Mad Anthony
1992	Nervous Ticks	Saul Warshow
1993	Searching for Bobby Fischer	Chess Club Regular
1994	The Chase	Officer Figus
	Bye Bye America [de]	Abe
	City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold	Barry Shalowitz
1995	The Maddening	Chicky Ross
	Billy Madison	Principal Max Anderson
	The Basketball Diaries	Counterman
	Let It Be Me	Jordan
1998	Great Expectations	Jerry Ragno
	Rounders	Zagosh
	Thicker Than Blood	Kendall
1999	The Out-of-Towners	Dr. Faber
	Big Daddy	Arthur Brooks
2001	Knockaround Guys	Mac McCreadle
2009	State of Play	Pete
2016	The Congressman	Bernie Gimpel
2020	Hunters	Rabbi Steckler

Broadway productions

Title	Dates of Production
Unlikely Heroes	October 26, 1971 – November 13, 1971
An American Millionaire	April 20, 1974 – May 5, 1974
A Texas Trilogy: Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander	September 21, 1976 – October 30, 1976
A Texas Trilogy: The Last Meeting of the Knights of the White Magnolia	September 22, 1976 – October 31, 1976
Threepenny Opera	November 5, 1989 – December 31, 1989
My Favorite Year	December 10, 1992 – January 10, 1993
The Flowering Peach	March 20, 1994 – April 24, 1994
Getting Away with Murder	March 17, 1996 – March 31, 1996

References

1. Maslin, Janet (September 21, 1984). "Windy City (1984) 'WINDY CITY'". The New York Times.
2. "Peggy Rajski, a Producer, Is Wed to Joshua Mostel". The New York Times. June 25, 1983. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
3. "Tobias Mostel – Broadway Cast & Staff". IBDB. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
4. "Frances Winter, an Artist, Is Married to Tobias Mostel". The New York Times. May 2, 1981. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
5. "Art & Design Library". FSU Department of Art History. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
6. "Zero and Kate Mostel papers". archives.nypl.org. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
7. "Adding Up to Zero". Toronto Jewish Film Festival. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
8. "THE EXPLOSION OF A MYTH mixed media on paper, framed, signed and dedicated on verso - Tobias Mostel". Charlton Hall Galleries. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
9. "Zero Mostel". tcmdb. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
10. Art History Department, Florida State University. With special thanks to Tobias and Aileen Mostel.
11. OLLI Spring 2013 Newsletter by OLLI FSU
12. "Mary Aileen Mostel October 8, 1950 - April 9, 2018". Abbey Funeral Home and Tallahassee Memory Gardens. Retrieved September 1, 2022.

External links

• Josh Mostel at IMDb
• Josh Mostel at the Internet Broadway Database
• Josh Mostel at the Internet Off-Broadway Database